The School Brochure
Chapter 03 - The School Brochure
I opened the bridal-suite door before either of them could walk away.
Daniel looked like a man caught standing over something broken.
Eleanor did not look ashamed. She looked irritated that I had heard her.
“Until what was settled?” I asked.
Daniel moved between us. “Claire, let me explain.”
“No. Let her explain.”
Eleanor’s eyes traveled over my wedding dress, lingering on the lace sleeves she had called too plain during my final fitting.
“Daniel’s life has become unstable,” she said. “The company is expanding. You intend to continue working. Lily requires structure.”
“Lily has structure.”
“She has nightmares, separation anxiety, and an unhealthy attachment to that toy.”
The white bear was the last birthday gift Rachel had given her daughter.
I stepped so close to Eleanor that she finally moved back.
“You used a grieving child’s pain as an argument for taking away the two people she trusts most.”
“I used facts.”
“No. You used her fear.”
Daniel told his mother to leave.
This time, she did.
After the door closed, I asked him how far the plan had gone. He said there had been one tour, two phone calls, and an application packet Eleanor requested without his permission.
I asked whether he had signed anything.
“No.”
“Did you fill anything out?”
He looked toward the floor.
That was my answer.
Daniel had completed a preliminary family questionnaire. He had listed Lily’s school records, medical history, and preferred hobbies.
He had written my name under “other adult in household.”
Not parent.
Not stepmother.
Other adult.
“I didn’t know what title to use,” he said.
“You could have asked me.”
“I panicked.”
“You keep calling every decision you made a moment of panic. This took weeks.”
Lily emerged from the bathroom wearing pink leggings and a cardigan. She had wiped her face, but her eyes remained red.
She looked from Daniel to me.
“Are you fighting because of me?”
Daniel immediately knelt. “No, honey.”
“Yes,” I said gently. “But not because you did anything wrong.”
Daniel looked at me, startled.
I would not teach Lily that truth had to be softened until it became another lie.
“We are fighting because adults made decisions about you without including the person who loves you most,” I continued. “That was unfair.”
“Who loves me most?”
“Your father.”
Lily studied him for a long moment.
Then she asked, “Did you pick the school with the horses?”
Daniel’s face changed.
I felt the room tilt beneath me.
“You’ve seen it?” I asked her.
Lily nodded.
“Grandma showed me pictures. She said Daddy picked the room with the blue curtains.”
Daniel stood abruptly. “I never picked a room.”
Lily walked to a small pile of wedding bags Eleanor’s assistant had delivered that morning. She reached behind them and pulled out a glossy brochure.
A blue circle had been drawn around one dormitory room.
May you like
Beside it, in Daniel’s handwriting, were three words.
Lily would like this.
